Andrey Kharitonov (F.Ovod, 1980, Arthur Burton - chief role) Unbelievable. In public, Andrei Kharitonov was always perceived as amiable, but arrogantly intellectual. And indifferent to any action "jumping" in his direction (from admiration in half with persecution, to the wildest bile of the category "he was so good-looking that it did not even allow the thought of his gift", etc.).
He appreciated friendship and knew how to be friends. And here. His directing work, with his favorite Nastya Vertinskaya (as he called it), Vitey Rakov and Igor Kostolevsky.
Spasm grabs the throat, brown from the sun and fog the beginning of the film. The soul was bathed in blood. I confess. I wrote the word ‘incredible’ from the first emotions, I watch the film next, and Kostolevsky’s character says, ‘It’s incredible. . . Do you believe in fate? But it is, mine. What did the director need, why? I think I wanted to express that there are distinct energy dead casts from the dead. These are people who were mentally tormented, or mentally unclean, burdened. And this black clot hangs under the ceilings, and it will always interfere with everyone who enters this house. Only it seems that it is almost ridiculous: a person feels that clearly not alone, then slams the door with a whistle, and something plume black rushes to a living person.
It's very simple to describe. When it is difficult, it is always easy.
Now I understand why Andrei Kharitonov said that having filmed The Thirst of Passion, he "psychologically ended his film career." Despite the fact that the film paid off 10 times, and got to all festivals in the “cinema for the chosen ones”.
In the philosophical basements of the brain, Andrei Kharitonov is guided without fear. All his characters actively influence the viewer. Something, a monster, acting on behalf of the heroine Vertinskaya, is not a surreal light, it is an independent, materialized phenomenon. And it wasn't attracted by a mirror. We see in the film the upper limit of the clouds, we hear the hum when She appears, there are strong spark discharges. I think it broke out of the Earth's magnetosphere.
The genesis of lifeless decadence in the film is perfectly conveyed. Many shots of "pale feet", not the slightest softening of Destiny or luck for positive heroes, the seeking feminine beginning of the "monster".
But I see the director's strong opinion. Independent. It's a different level of understanding. Andrei Kharitonov, as a director, did not draw the eternal constant of Brusov: “prostituted soul and selfish body” of another beautiful woman. On the contrary, her personality suffers and is not prone to evil.
Why does the movie sometimes get scary? Think. While the "monster" is waving Vertinskaya dialogues, side "clots" are scouring in parallel. They go for everyone who has to do with the character Vertinskaya. Then the choice is like a nightmare: a deadly scare (as it happens ridiculously and wildly with secondary characters, with maids and an assistant inspector). Or understand and know that another physics of presence is possible. And to be sure, before aggression, that in the earthly world we have more rights than ‘they’.